Zanzibari Birthday at Kendwa Beach, Zanzibar, Tanzania

To See Our Tanzanian Photos, Click Here

Ladies with their Buckets on Nungwi Beach

Discovering Stone Town has been great, but it was time to continue our sea-level recovery by chillin' on some beach somewhere. And Zanzibar has a few to choose from! It was coming up on my 24th anniversary of my 19th birthday: I would be turning 43! A hot sun, a pristine white sandy beach and turquoise-blue water to cool off in, Kendwa in the north turned out to be the perfect place to relax and celebrate!

Just as Mexico has American tourists, the beaches of Spain, British tourists, Zanzibar has Italian tourists. LOTS of them! The unfortunate thing about that, is that the locals think that you have money coming out of your ears as well, and so prices of food, accommodation and definitely souvenirs, are a lot higher on the island than on the mainland. It took us a while to find a place to stay

Michelle's Birthday on Kendwa Beach

at an affordable price. Even as we head in to low season we had to bargain hard to pay $40 (26 quid) for a very basic room that would cost about half that in touristy Moshi near Kilimanjaro

Raining season is around the corner and the morning of my birthday it was stormy and blustery. Thankfully, it cleared quickly and we were able to walk the beach to the next beach over 2 miles away. Nungwi is a lot more commercialised and made us appreciate our cosy Kendwa beach all the more (although Kendwa still has a private italian resort too). As the tide went out we watched women buying huge catches of fish fresh off the boats presumably to sell it on. Unlike Nungwi, the bay at Kendwa is deep and so the beautiful aquamarine water doesn't disappear with the tide. We swam, read our books, and ate Calamari (cheapest at our little place at $6!) for lunch and dinner for the next three days - it was that good!  *Mush

Sunset on Kendwa Beach

Birthday Dinner on the Beach - Calamari